Before leaving town for a swap in LA, I took some photos of the garden at 5 PM, May 13th, 08. At midnight, a hailstorm blew thru. The next morning I took the 2nd pic at 8AM, and knew my garden would never be the same. It was shredded. There was nothing to do but leave it till we came home from the swap. The 3rd photo is the same spot at the end of June. The caladiums were up to replace the impatiens that never recovered. The trees leafed out. Some plants didn't survive, but they were eventually forgotten by me. I never thought the garden would come back after such destruction, but it did.....just differently.

Absolutely beautiful, Sandi. What an inspiration for a rank beginner who has only a scant few plants in his garden. And not sure how many of those survived this brutal winter.

The first thing I need to learn is how high certain plants grow, so I don't cover shorter ones with taller ones. As my plan stands now, it will be almost in a "C" shape around the pond. The house and deck will close the open part of the "C".

Sadly enough, I don't have any trading stock yet, but wondering if any are willing to sell instead.

Thank you, I appreciate that!
When you go to the swap, you'll be amazed at how many people just bring stuff to give away. You can also take things like 4" pots, old gardening magazines, anythng garden related. But, you don't have to....and next time you'll have plants that you can share with someone else who doesn't have any.
As for your pond/garden area....If there's a Lowe's nearby, haunt it in spring. They buy way too many plants and sell entire racks for $20. (It used to be $10).
I'll check to see if I have a couple of pics of my pond. Right now all the palms have cratered. I'll be starting over, I think.

Thank you, Frostweed. The front garden is probably more to your liking. Because of our voracious deer population, it's all perennials. It looks terrible at the moment, but come spring it'll probably have more survivors than the back garden.

Hi Jeanne...good to see you posting. I think I'm going to replace the palms I lost with bananas around back of my pond. At least I can cut them down in the fall and cover them. With a little protection, they should survive. If you saw the pond pic above, you can see that I'm going to have some work to do this year. I had a Secret Garden behind the pond. It isn't a secret anymore!!!!